NEW OUTDOORS COLUMN: SHOOTING THE BREEZE
The
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Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , s ePtember 5, 2018
• N o . 36
• 18 P ages
MIMICKING
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
Nature’s
EO Media Group/E.J. Harris
One-time marijuana tax distributions
in Grant County totaled more than
$45,000, and most of the funds were
spent on drug abuse awareness
programs.
Local one-time
pot tax payments
totaled $46,657
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County voters overturned the ban
on recreational marijuana businesses in May,
but the county and its eight cities received
$46,657 prior to the election as their share of
marijuana taxes collected by the state.
Oregon cities that opted out of the state
law allowing recreational marijuana busi-
nesses received one payment from state-
wide marijuana taxes collected from Jan. 4,
2016, through June 30, 2017, based solely
on population, said Joy Krawczyk, commu-
nications operations manager for the Ore-
gon Department of Revenue.
General funds
Seneca is the only city in Grant County
that didn’t opt out of the state law allowing
recreational marijuana businesses, but there
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Nick Bouwes, a professor at Utah State University’s College of Natural Resources and an expert on beaver dam analogs, talks to
stream restoration professionals during a field trip to Camp Creek in the Middle Fork John Day River drainage July 26.
See POT, Page A18
Road closure
ordinance
challenged
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
A complaint recently filed in Grant
County Circuit Court by Mark Webb chal-
lenges the validity of two measures passed
by county voters in 2002 and an ordinance
passed by the county court in 2013.
Following an executive session on Aug.
29, the Grant County Court unanimously
directed county attorney Ron Yockim to re-
spond to Webb and defend the actions.
Measure 12-37, a declaration demand-
ing that the United Nations not act within
Grant County, was passed by county voters
May 21, 2002, by 1,326-959 with 53 per-
cent turnout.
Measure 12-40, a petition to Congress
seeking the title transfer of all public lands
See ROAD, Page A18
New technique could
improve fish habitat
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
W
hen Lewis and Clark trav-
eled up the Missouri River in
1804-06, they reported seeing
beaver dams in every tribu-
tary. Scientists estimate 250
million ponds dammed by castor canadensis
covered the landscape at that time, and sedi-
ment trapped by these dams produced much of
the rich farm land later utilized by settlers.
Fur trappers, however, immediately followed
the Corps of Discovery Expedition. Trapping
brigades wiped out beaver populations drainage
by drainage. Researchers estimate that by 1900,
only 1 percent of North America’s historic bea-
ver population remained.
The carnage continued, as beavers were
blamed for flooding property, destroying road-
ways and harming trees. Last year, federal
agents killed more than 23,000 beavers be-
lieved to be impacting property.
Mimicking nature
Now, in an about-face that bodes well for
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
This beaver dam analog was installed by the Forest Service on Camp Creek in the
Middle Fork John Day River drainage in 2016.
beavers, stream restoration professionals are
turning to small wooden impoundments as a
way to improve fish habitat and riparian areas
across the West.
Made of pounded posts and woven willow
whips, these beaver dam analogs are consid-
erably cheaper than other restoration tech-
niques.
See BEAVER, Page A18
County to pay The Oregonian in
sheriff’s office public record lawsuit
Sheriff’s office lawsuit
against Grant County
for outside counsel
costs unresolved
By Richard Hanners
and Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant County Court on Aug.
29 moved one step closer to settling
matters related to a lawsuit brought
by the Oregonian Publishing Co.
Following an executive session
held for discussing litigation, the
court unanimously approved paying
$28,000 to The Ore-
gonian newspaper for
legal fees associated
with the company’s
lawsuit against Glenn
Palmer, Sally DeFord
and the Grant County
Sheriff
Sheriff’s Office under
Glenn
Oregon public records
Palmer
law.
The
$28,000,
which does not include interest on
the legal fees, will be taken from the
sheriff’s office’s communications
equipment budget. The county had
budgeted $180,000 this fiscal year
for anticipated repairs to radio tow-
ers around the county, Grant County
Treasurer Julie Ellison said.
The Oregonian sued Palmer, De-
Ford and the sheriff’s office to com-
pel the disclosure of public records
in May 2016.
The suit was dismissed when the
records were disclosed, but a judge
awarded The Oregonian $28,337 in
attorney fees.
A lawsuit filed by Palmer, De-
Ford and the sheriff’s office against
Grant County and its board of com-
missioners remains unresolved, as of
Friday.
Palmer and DeFord incurred
$41,355 in fees while represented
by a private law firm, Hostetter Law
Group, according to a complaint
they filed in March. The complaint
claimed the county is legally re-
quired to cover all of the fees under
the Oregon Tort Claims Act because
The Oregonian’s lawsuit was a tort
that arose from alleged acts or omis-
sions occurring during the perfor-
mance of duty.
Senior Judge Patricia Sullivan
ruled the Oregon Tort Claims Act
did not apply to a request for disclo-
sure of records under Oregon public
records law and dismissed parts of
the complaint seeking indemnity in
a July 10 order.
“The plaintiffs appear to be re-
questing reimbursement for at-
torney fees they incurred com-
plying with and opposing the
See LAWSUIT, Page A18